#flockingaround

Ryou was a great talent, able to reach great heights in the dueling world, but he just didn't have that X factor that made Judai, Edo and Johan the geniuses they were. For as good as he was, there would always be a limit to how good he got, and eventually the geniuses would come along and overcome him. He tried to take this fact gractiously, accepting that this was just the way things were, but I think deep down this fact agonized him.

In the underground Arena after Edo beat him, backed into a corner, Ryou snapped. Believing his ideals were what were holding him back, he gave them up and adopted the Hell Kaiser Persona, chasing victory no matter the cost. If he couldn't beat the geniuses with talent, he would beat them with tenacity. Ryou probably tried to convince himself thay he would blaze so far past these geniuses, that they would never be able to catch up, but in his heart of hearts he knew that probably wasn't true.

When Ryou dueled Johan for the first time in season 3, he noted how Johan had the same talent and ability to grow limitlessly that Judai had. But unlike when he mentioned it back then, exposing it sagely to a fasy rising student, this time he could only say it with disdain. Yet again another genius was appearing before him, and he probably couldn't help but envy the talent Johan had.

What Ryou failed to realise was that he wasn't the only one who was trying to improve, his cyber deck also sought the same and also wanted to improve with him. But in throwing his respect for his cards, his cards also lost faith in him, he lost his only road for improvement. Thats why I think the cyberdark cards kept shocking him as well.

By respecting the wishes of his deck, and and moving forward with it towards, Shpu will reach heights greated than what Ryou could of reached on his own, and thats why I think Shou has surpassed Ryou.

Ok as someone who made his distaste towards Arc V clear, the main thing that detracts from Arc V for me compared to a series like GX was how the writers sold the series. Some of it might be nostaliga but GX was sold as a goofy highschool adventure series despite all the melodrama, which set initial expectations low. Compared to that Arc V sells itself as a War story, so expectations on tensions were set much higher.

Well, if you see it as being sold as a war story then I guess I could see how you would expect more tension from it because of that. But to me it doesn’t feel like War Story is the point of the show. I mean yes, the war itself is extremely important and integral to the plot but imo Arc V has always been more of a Mystery Story. The focus is more on discovering what’s going on and why this war is even happening in the first place and what can be done to stop it than on having some sort of big battle with armies or something.